Afternoon Edition

November 3, 2026

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As voters head to the polls, several key battleground races—including those in Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Alaska—will decide control of the Senate. In those races, sports owners have donated nearly six times as much money to Republican candidates as Democrats.

—Eli Kronenberg and Margaret Fleming

First Up

First at FOS: With Skydance carrying nearly $80 billion in debt, The CW is pitching its 100-million home reach to leagues whose rights may become available.
Despite having faced criticism in recent years, ESPN’s weekly CFP rankings show returns Tuesday, with the committee debuting an enhanced metric.
As Mark Walter continues to peel off parts of his sports empire, the Professional Women’s Hockey League insists it is not heading toward new ownership.
A number of countries participating in elite international hockey say they refuse to play against Russia in the 2027 men’s World Championship if it participates.

Pro Sports Owners Back GOP in Senate Battleground Races

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

This is part of a Front Office Sports series about sports spending in the 2026 midterm elections.

Several key battleground races will decide control of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

The Republican candidates in those elections have benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from major U.S. sports team owners, according to an FOS analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.

Sports owners in the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and NWSL donated more than $350,000 to principal campaign committees for Republican Senate candidates in battleground states. Team owners in those leagues spent less than a fifth of that amount supporting Democrats in those same races. Political action committees affiliated with the Republican candidates also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from sports owners.

Across the board, sports owners overwhelmingly gave to Republican Senate candidates over Democrats. The principal campaign committees for Susan Collins in Maine, Jon Husted in Ohio, and Mike Rogers in Michigan received the largest total donations from team owners. Roy Cooper in North Carolina and James Talarico in Texas were the only two Democrats to receive more donations to their principal campaign committees from sports owners than their opponents—though Texas Republican nominee Ken Paxton received sizable donations to outside PACs from the sports world.

Some of the most prolific donors for these races among team owners were Los Angeles Kings and Galaxy owner Philip Anschutz, Broncos owner Rob Walton, Cleveland Browns and Columbus soccer owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, Magic owners Richard “Dick” and Dan DeVos, and San Francisco Giants owner Charles B. Johnson.

New York Giants chairman Steve Tisch, Seattle Seahawks owner Vinod Khosla, Minnesota Twins owner Jim Pohlad, and Chicago Stars owner Laura Ricketts all donated to support Democratic candidates in battleground states.

Read the full Front Office Sports analysis of how U.S. team owners and other influential sports figures donated in nine key Senate battleground races.

Your Paddock Pregame

It’s time for “Lights Out” in Las Vegas. Front Office Sports and PwC are teaming up to host the perfect paddock pregame for Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend. On Friday, Nov. 20, FOS and PwC will host Tastemakers—a curated afternoon of engaging conversations with some of sports’s most influential executives.

Join us as we bring together leaders in sports, media, and entertainment from all over the globe who are building, investing in, and shaping what comes next in the world of sports.

Limited space available—request to attend now.

EXCLUSIVE

ESPN Hires The Athletic Editorial Director Sergio Gonzalez

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

ESPN has hired Sergio Gonzalez away from The Athletic as VP of digital editorial, Front Office Sports has learned.

Gonzalez will report directly to Mike Foss, ESPN’s EVP of studio and entertainment. Gonzalez is the top newsroom hire that the company has made since Roxanna Scott’s role as SVP, editor-in-chief was eliminated in August.

LOUD AND CLEAR

Predicting a Change

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“Prediction markets are ripe for reform.”

—Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) on why Congress could reshape the prediction-market industry after the midterm elections.

Kalshi and Polymarket are forecasting a likely Democratic sweep in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Experts say that regardless of the outcome, the prediction-market industry is set to face renewed bipartisan pressure in Washington, D.C., as lawmakers look to tighten oversight.

“There need to be safeguards and guardrails so they can be regulated just as other forms of gambling are,” Blumenthal told Front Office Sports.

AI in Sports: Everyone Is In

AI adoption is accelerating across the sports industry, but meaningful returns remain elusive. A new joint report from Front Office Sports and Teamworks based on a survey from hundreds of sports organizations, examines how teams, leagues, and athletic departments are investing in and using AI.

While 90% of organizations expect their AI usage to grow, just 15% report a clear, measurable ROI. The report explores what separates organizations seeing returns, including dedicated AI budgets, centralized ownership, and organization-wide implementation. It also examines where sports organizations are using AI today, what they want from the technology, and how they plan to invest in the year ahead.

Read the full report to see where sports stands on AI and where it’s headed.

STATUS REPORT

Three Up, One Down

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Florida State ⬇ After firing head coach Mike Norvell on Sunday, the Seminoles’ predicament went from bad to worse Tuesday with the news of top wide receiver Duce Robinson suffering an ACL injury. Robinson had 438 receiving yards and four touchdowns through eight games before sustaining the injury in Saturday’s loss to Clemson. Florida State will have to pay Norvell roughly $50 million to buy out his contract, the third-largest buyout in college football history.

Jason Witten ⬆ The longtime Cowboys tight end has a new gig: Oklahoma’s interim offensive coordinator. After the Sooners fired previous OC Ben Arbuckle on Monday, Witten was promoted from his role as tight ends coach for the rest of the season. Witten briefly worked as a Monday Night Football analyst in 2018 before returning to the NFL for another two seasons. This is his first season as a college coach.

Jim Ratcliffe ⬆ When Kimi Antonelli clinched the Formula One world drivers’ championship with a third-place finish in Mexico City on Sunday, it marked a rare win for the INEOS CEO, who owns a one-third stake in Antonelli’s team, Mercedes. Ratcliffe’s sporting investments across soccer, cycling, sailing, and F1 have seldom yielded competitive success in recent years. His purchase of Manchester United in 2024 has left him especially embattled, as the club currently languishes in 17th place in the Premier League.

WWE ⬆ The wrestling organization announced an expanded partnership with Disney for a two-day takeover at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando. The event features the inaugural John Cena Classic on Dec. 14, followed by an Avengers: Doomsday–themed edition of World Collide with stars from WWE, NXT, and AAA on Dec. 15.